Five moments of last minute football madness

If you didn’t witness Borussia Dortmund’s injury time victory over Malaga in their UEFA Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday night, GMF feels sorry for you.

It was as exciting as a football match has been for many a long while and, while it was cruel that Malaga were only ever behind and going out after in the 93rd, it was fitting that such a topsy-turvy game was decided at the death.

The Spaniards led first though Joaquin and again by an offside Eliseu after Robert Lewandowski had finished a sublime equaliser.

The Germans were going out even when Marco Reus pounced on a loose ball to level the score at 2-2 as away goals would have done for them.

With nearly 93 minutes on the clock and all hope lost, centre back Felipe Santana tapped in after a scramble in the Malaga goalmouth to complete an unlikely comeback and put the Bundesliga side into the semis.

Once GMF’s collective heart rate had retreated to normal levels, we began to wonder when we could remember any other games being so dramatic at the death.

Of course we could and we have put five of our favourites together for your enjoyment.

So read on to see five moments of last minute madness:

Manchester United v Bayern Munich, 1999 UEFA Champions League final

Of course this was going to be the first. It was mentioned enough by commentators on Tuesday evening – with good reason.

Manchester United had put in a lacklustre performance in Camp Nou and it seemed they were heading for certain defeat as the clock crept past the 90th minutes with them trailing to an early Mario Basler strike.

However, Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams have a reputation for never knowing when they are beaten and the three minutes of injury time gilded it.

First Teddy Sheringham found the corner after a David Beckham corner was not properly cleared, before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knocked in at the far post to steal the glory in the 93rd, and final, minute.

Sergio Aguero, Manchester City v QPR

This time is was Manchester United that felt the pain of last gasp defeat; Ferguson’s men were congratulating their fans after defeating Sunderland when news filtered through of great drama at the Etihad Stadium.

QPR were on the verge of completing an unlikely 2-1 going into injury time win when victory was what Manchester City needed to clinch the Premier League title.

Edin Dzeko levelled the scores in the 92nd minute but the victory required to win the title on goal difference still seemed too far away. Step forward Sergio Aguero; the Argentine was on hand in the 95th minutes to slam home the goal that won City their first title in 44 years.

Andres Iniesta, Barcelona v Chelsea, 2009 Champions League semi-final

This game became famous for the tirade of anger directed towards referee Tom Henning Ovrebo by Chelsea players for his failure to award a penalty on a number of occasions – Didier Drogba’s rant at TV cameras and official afterwards got him a six-game ban.

Michael Essien’s sublime volley had the Blues going through to a second successive final against Manchester United and the sense of injustice was only bubbling under the surface.

It erupted in a wave of fury, however, when Andres Iniesta curled home a delightful shot from the edge of the area in stoppage time to break Stamford Bridge hearts.

Sylvain Wiltord, France v Italy, Euro 2000 final

Les Bleus were World Cup champions and favourites to take the title in the Holland and Belgium Championship but Italy looked as though they had their opponents worked out and were comfortable protecting Marco Delvecchio’s 55th minute opener.

That is until then Arsenal forward Sylvain Wiltord shot home an unlikely equaliser from an even more unlikely angle in the 94th minute.

France were off the hook and soon compounded the Italians’ misery in the Golden Goal extra-time when a soon to be Arsenal star, Robert Pires, pulled back for David Trezeguet to rifle home and steal the trophy for France.

An infamous clash where the last-minute madness seemed to spread and one decision that was seen as crazy at the time was eventually vindicated in one of the most dramatic games in World Cup history.

Diego Forlan cancelled out Sulley Muntari’s first half injury time opener before tension took hold and the score stayed the same to full time and all the way through extra-time.

Ghana’s final push in the dying seconds saw Luis Suarez clear a shot off the line with his legs and then he cleared the follow up goal bound header but this time with his hands.

The Liverpool man had saved a certain goal but conceded a penalty and was shown a red card in the process. The gamble paid off, however, as Asamoah Gyan stepped up to take the penalty that would out his side through to the semi-finals….and watched it hit the top of the crossbar before going over.

Uruguay were victorious in the resulting penalty shoot-out and Luis Suarez was demonised even further – but his gamble paid off.

What do you think of these last minute moments of madness? Can you remember any that you think are as mad?

Report author of article

DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

Want more content like this?

Like our GiveMeSport Facebook Page and you will get this directly to you.